Commission Decision of 2 June 2004 State aid which Italy (Sicily) has envisaged for the promotion and advertising of agricultural products (notified under document number C(2004) 1923) (Text with EEA relevance)

• Published date: 06 February 2007
• Date of Signature: 08 June 2007
• Official Gazette Publication: Gazzetta ufficiale dell’Unione europea, L 32, 06 febbraio 2007,Diario Oficial de la Unión Europea, L 32, 06 de febrero de 2007,Journal officiel de l’Union européenne, L 32, 06 février 2007,Diario Oficial de la Unión Europea, L 266, 11 de octubre de 2007

6.2.2007 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 32/29

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COMMISSION DECISION

of 2 June 2004

State aid which Italy (Sicily) has envisaged for the promotion and advertising of agricultural products

(notified under document number C(2004) 1923)

(Only the Italian text is authentic)

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2007/54/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular the first subparagraph of Article 88(2) thereof,

Having called on interested parties to submit their comments pursuant to the provision cited above (1) and having regard to their comments,

Whereas:

I. PROCEDURE

(1) By letter dated 2 September 1997, registered on 5 September 1997, the Italian Permanent Representation at the European Union notified the Commission of Article 6 of Regional Law n. 27 of 1997 of the Sicilian Region, in accordance with Article 88(3) of the EC Treaty.

(2) By telex VI/41836 of 28 October 1997, Commission services asked the competent authorities to provide clarifications on the aid provided for by Article 6 and on Regional Law n. 27 of 1997.

(3) By letter dated 19 January 1998 the competent authorities sent some complementary information and indicated that the Law had already entered into force. The notification was therefore transferred to the register of non notified aids under number NN 36/98, as communicated to Italy by letter SG(98)D/32328 of 3 April 1998. However, the competent authorities also clearly indicated that no aid would be granted under the law before the termination of the procedure of Article 88(3) of the Treaty.

(4) By telex VI/13937 of 31 May 2000 (anticipated in the English version by telex of 14 April 2000/VI/10442) Commission services asked the competent authorities to provide explanations regarding the provisions contained in Regional Law n. 27/1997 and a copy of the Law itself.

(5) By letter dated 31 July 2002, registered on 5 August 2002, the competent authorities sent some complementary information regarding Article 5 of the Law.

(6) By telex AGR 024925 of 22 October 2002 Commission services asked the competent authorities to provide explanations and clarifications regarding the complementary information lately sent and the measures contained in Regional Law n. 27/1997. In the same letter Commission services indicated that if the aid measures envisaged by Article 6 of Regional Law n. 27 of 1997 and, possibly, by other provisions of the same Law had not yet been put into effect and the competent authorities could assure that no aids had been paid and would be paid under Regional Law n. 27/1997 the competent authorities could consider the possibility of withdrawing the notification under examination.

(7) Not having received any reply to the above telex, by telex AGR 30657 of 20 December 2002, Commission services sent the Italian authorities a reminder inviting them to submit the requested information within one month and informing them that unless satisfactory replies to all the questions asked were received within this deadline, Commission services reserved the right to propose the Commission to issue an information injunction on the basis of Article 10(3) of Council Regulation (EC) No 659/1999 of 22 March 1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Article 93 of the EC Treaty (2).

(8) By letter of 10 July 2003 SG(2003)D/230470 the Commission notified Italy of its decision containing an information injunction in respect of Article 6 and Article 4 of Regional Law n. 27/1997, which it had adopted on 9 July 2003 (C(2003) 2054fin) on the basis of Article 10(3) of Regulation (EC) No 659/1999.

(9) By the said information injunction the Commission had requested Italy to provide, within 20 working days from the notification of its decision, all the documents, information and data necessary to enable the Commission to establish whether the aids foreseen in the law had been granted and were compatible with the common market. Besides inviting Italy to provide any other information deemed useful for the assessment of the above measures, the information injunction specified a list of information that Italy was requested to provide.

(10) Neither a reply to the above information injunction, nor a request for a prolongation of the deadline within which a reply had to be provided, were received by Commission services.

(11) By letter dated 17 December 2003 (SG(2003)D/233550), the Commission informed Italy that by its decision C(2003) 4473 fin of 16 December 2003 it had decided to initiate the procedure laid down in Article 88(2) of the Treaty in respect of the aid measures provided for by Article 4 (Advertising of Sicilian products) and by Article 6 (Cooperatives, cantine sociali) of Regional Law n. 27/1997.

(12) The Commission Decision to initiate the procedure was published in the Official Journal of the European Communities (3). The Commission called on interested parties to submit their comments.

(13) By letters dated 10 February 2004 registered on 13 February 2004, the Italian Permanent Representation at the European Union, on behalf of Regione Siciliana asked Commission services for a prolongation of 20 working days to provide the information requested by the Commission in its Decision C(2003) 4473 fin of 16 December 2003, in respect of Article 4 (Advertising of Sicilian products) of Regional Law n. 27/1997. In the same letter the Italian authorities announced their intention to withdraw the notification of the aid measure concerned by Article 6 (Cooperatives, cantine sociali) which, as indicated in their letter, had not been not implemented.

(14) By telex AGR 05312 of 23 February 2004 Commission services confirmed that the prolongation requested by Italy had been granted with effect from 13 February 2004.

(15) By letter dated 18 February 2004, registered on 26 February 2004 the Italian Permanent Representation sent a request for a prolongation of 20 working days with regard to the same aid measure.

(16) By letter of 24 February 2004, registered on 1 March 2004, later confirmed by letter dated 12 March 2003, registered on 17 March 2003, the Italian authorities informed the Commission of the withdrawal of the notification of the aid measure concerned by Article 6 (Cooperatives, cantine sociali) of Regional Law n. 27/1997 which, as indicated in their letters, had not been and would not be implemented.

(17) By telex AGR 07074 of 11 March 2004 the Italian authorities were informed that, since the Commission Decision concerned had been published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 24 February 2004 and the deadline for third parties to submit comments in its respect would expire on 24 March 2004, no prolongation to submit the information requested and/or comments beyond that date would be granted. By the same telex Commission services acknowledged the withdrawal of Article 6 (Cooperatives, cantine sociali) of Regional Law n. 27/1997.

(18) The Commission received comments from Italy in respect of Article 4 (Advertising of Sicilian products) of Regional Law n. 27/1997 by letter dated 15 March 2004, registered on 18 March 2004.

(19) In accordance with the Decision to open the procedure (4), the current decision only concerns the State aids provided for by Article 4 (Advertising of Sicilian products) of Regional Law n. 27/1997 in favour of Annex I agricultural products which may have been and which may be granted from the entry into force of the Community Guidelines for State aid for advertising of products listed in Annex I to the EC Treaty and of certain non-Annex I products (5) , (hereafter the advertising guidelines), i.e . from 1 January 2002.

(20) As the notification of Article 6 (Cooperatives, cantine sociali) of Regional Law n. 27/1997 was withdrawn by Italy by letter of 24 February 2004, registered on 1 March 2004, there is no reason to describe and assess the aid measures provided for by Article 6.

II. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE AIDS

(21) Article 4 (Propaganda prodotti siciliani) amends Article 17 of Regional Law No 14/1966 and envisages that ‘(1) Advertising campaigns are implemented directly by the Regional Ministry or through the Institute for Foreign Trade or through specialised bodies, or through Consortia established by the Ente Fiera del Mediterraneo and by the Ente Fiera di Messina or by these entities and one or more Chambers of Commerce of the Region on the basis of the programmes indicated in Article 15. The said programmes may have three-year duration. (2) With the exclusion of the consortia indicated above, if the implementation of the programmes is entrusted to bodies outside the national or the regional administration, the rules on entrusting the services of the public administration will apply’.

(22) Despite repeated requests from Commission services, and the information injunction issued by the Commission by its Decision of 9 July 2003, the Italian authorities had not provided the information which could help the Commission to dispel the doubts that Article 4 may provide for State aids within the meaning of article 87(1) of the EC treaty and, if the case, to allow the Commission to conclude that these aids may be considered compatible with the common market. Moreover it was not clear whether the aids concerned had already been granted or not.

(23) In its Decision to open the procedure envisaged by Article 88(2) of the Treaty on the measure under examination, the Commission noted that at that stage of the procedure, due to the lack of information from the Italian authorities, the

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